They Might Be Giants - Unpronounceable Lyrics

tmbg good
thank you tmbg

Particlemen, Man, am I having a blast discovering your music. I had a 2000 kilometre road trip a few months ago, and found an odd album that I did not recognize in the CDs . It was the one with Radar Detector on it. I ended up listening to the thing for the entire 24 hour drive. I had another album of yours from the 90s, and had enjoyed it too, but now, I am totally immersing myself in your 22 albums. I can't get enough. And by the way, Radar Detector is by FAR my fav song. I have the entire thing memorized and there is a full recording studio in the other half of the basement in the industrial building I live in in Prince George BC. I am going to get some folks with quirks together and give recording it a go! Thanks so much for all of what you have done.

Still here to enjoy such a good, sad and quirky song

For a second there I thought I needed to clean my CD player

2008 Captchas be like 2:12

I wonder if they read a certain story on Reddit before they wrote this...
https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/oc7rc/have_you_ever_felt_a_deep_personal_connection_to/c3g4ot3/

2:24 John & John & Marty & Dan & Danny

When substitute’s try to pronounce your name

This song was running through my head because I was reading about Pete Buttigieg.

Join Us black box vibes

what is Dial-a-song?

Linnell 2020.

Got Glean on vinyl for my first record player a couple weeks ago, I re-fell in love with this song.

Love this!

The chorus is my favorite.

Needs more Stasiu.

I love all your songs! I thought I'd never enjoy music again, how wrong was I! I can't pick a favorite but this song always makes me giggle because no one can pronounce my name except for people from my continent XD

Did anyone else noticed the occasional echoing?
A detail that small, THAT'S dedication.

This song is freaking trippy.
But what I REALLY want is for someone to use it in a MarbleHornetsesque series.
No really, it fits so well. Like, amazingly well. Trippy cuts in the music, everyone's face is blurred, the imagery is even pretty similar to that used in the Totheark of MH and encounter sequences in Tribe Twelve. The song fits it weirdly well.

This is my favorite song.

This is one of my favorite TMBG music videos

I love this so much I can't even.

My headphones broke at 2:12.  :(

The first 20 seconds sound like a song from the Series of Unfortunate Events audio books.

Tiime stoooopped....

(Video is now buffering)

**infinite years later** When you said hellooooo.

I just binged season 4 of Bojack Horseman and a certain episode reminded me very strongly of this video.

Sounds a lot like Weezer

I can't stop watching this, this is a great song and an amazing music video. Be proud.

This is such a tight jam that it sent my lingo back to the 90's dude

At 0:57, i watched that about 5 times, and each time it looked like MatPat and Stephanie...
No, i'm serious.

*A E S T H E T I C S*

I think this is about people with black boxes over their faces

Steevious you mean the black bar that says "CENSORD"?

@Star Stranger I always thought it was purely about forgetting someone's name.

@Lev Whitelaw Whoah

@Lev Whitelaw Knowing tmbg, it probably is

I think it was about someone who wants to remain anonymous.

The world needs more music videos with people in latex horse masks

THINK THIS IS UNPRENONCIBLE WAIT TIL YOU HEAR MY OLD LADY GIVING ME HEAD WHEN SHES SINGING TRIANGLE MAN AT THE SAME TIME

also i realized this when i was going to sleep

in the video everyone's face is censored out, right?

well, at the beginning, the clock's face is censored out...

Well, the TVs are also censored...
I'd guess it's just a gimmick.

tate the great Reflective surfaces, theh could have faces in them.

reminds me a bit of the game lsd :P

This bitter-sweet song makes me dream of electric sheep

I love this album much in part because each song feels like a missing piece from their other albums. This one reminds me of The Spine.

Oh whoops lol, I meant 'Erase' and 'Answer'.

@CardboardOdyssey Maybe you should have... wait for it... ERASED your response! I am so sorry for that pun...

It reminds me a bit of Experimental Film.

Bouncer15111 😁

CardboardOdyssey Sold My Mind To The Kremlin is hot off of Lincoln, Hate The Villanelle feels kinda... I dunno. Apollo 18 maybe?

Erase, OTOH, I feel like comes straight from Flood.

The first time I heard this song (off "Glean"), I thought my receiver was glitching out on me.

2:11 is a powerful musical experience

rewind the tape, review the blur...
your name:  it is unpronounceable.

Lucas Wagner Oh, I thought it said "Namet"

Made me wonder what a namet was.

Pretty good song but i would like to see you Johns into some new video like the ol' days.

Hands down my favorite song off Glean. And in all honesty, Officially one of my top 5 all time favorite TMBG songs easily.  Problem with said top 5 is: I love them all and can't really seem to put any one over another. But all 5 listed are: Ana Ng, Unpronounceable, Don't Let's Start, A Self Called Nowhere, and The Bells Are Ringing. With a pronounced shout out for their first 4 albums which are near and dear to my heart and always will be :-).

@Pretzelthedude All amazing choices for Top 5! I think this one has made my own. What an amazing work!

I guess people seem to like the early stuff most of all, when I saw them recently they played a lot of that (including a self called nowhere). I liked the show, but i wish they would play more recent stuff. I think glean may be their best album, would have rather heard Unpronouncable than Birdhouse for the thousandth time

The last ten seconds were my very favourite part of the video.

+Corey Messick Hey, maybe that's who Chess Piece Face is. The chess piece is a knight. THIS. EXPLAINS. EVERYTHING.

That horse face isn't scary at all

I really hope they play this number in Boston on Thursday!

this is outstanding! I wonder how the Johns have been able to write and record such clever and unique music for so many years without any decrease in quality. Its like they're never going to run out of Ideas.

I completely agree! I was looking in the comment section for something like this haha. They're such an amazing band.

Right you are. This band is quality and they´re just too true to be widely popular.

They can’t. They have the power of being constantly on drugs without taking anything.

_I like this song!_

awesome

I listened to this before watching the video.  I thought my MP3 player was glitching out during the bridge.  Well played, TMBG!

Both this and Erase are deserving of becoming singles for Glean.

that glitch part was some Hideo Kojimia type shit!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
thought youtube was messed up for a sec lol

The combination of the animation and sound is messing with my head!

You should see Erase!

Who was the person who made this? I looked for ITWST & I can't find the person (or group). Ali Mohammed maybe? In any case the video is amazing!! Kudos!

@Vhan Wolfe William Shum :) http://willalexshum.com/

Thanks!!

"zoom and enhance/ if that were even a real thing/ which it isn't"

Kowalski, Analysis!

Song's fantastic, but I still can't stand how John doesn't say the "o" at the end of "hello" in the first line.

William_Williams how do u even do that

William_Williams And now I can't unhear that...

Esra, Isaac, Zoe, Michael, Malik, Phoebe, and Antoine are some of the names in the glitchy part

Then it says "John and John and Marty and Dan and Danny"- the main members of tmbg

Also there's Chloe, Naomi, Theresa and Rhys

Probably my favorite so far.

Well, that was a lovely little mindfuck!  Excellent job, gentlemen.  xo

My favorite TMBG song of 2015 so far. Can't wait for next week's song.

Okay, that part @2:11 is seriously not cool to do on YouTube, guys.

I'm confused. Can you help me understand why that is bad?

Do you mean 3:11?

@Will Brousseau It was choppy and sounded like the video was glitchy, rather than sounding like a typical stop in a song.

@Down10 it was supposed to sound like that

First thing I thought too. Got really angry cus it was perfect for the past twenty minutes, and I thought it had just given out.
But listening now, it sounds cool.

Another fantastic song!

Time stopped when you said ZA WARUDO

I am so glad I'm not the only weaboo here because this song was really reminding me of Donut Hole

RakeMerger Time stopped, when you said hellLL!

(He doesn't actually say the o)

This has got to be my favorite out of all the Dial-A-Song's so far.

@leeummradley indubitably.

is I love you for Psychological Reasons also a Dial-a-Song song?
cause I love that one..
Also Definition of Good and You Probably get that a Lot.
But I agree, this is another great song.

How to removing black boxes plz.

Shits dope yo

That's totally John at the end.

But the real question is... which one? (Probably Linnell) 

I think it's Flansburgh.

Once again TMBG come up wjth another great mind-altering song. Yet when you think of week 52? The dancing Oompa Loopas comes to mind Ha! Ha!

Nice Bojack Horseman cameo, lol! I love Dial-A-Song! Awesome songs and videos! <3

Hot damn you guys keep upping your game. This song is amazing. Your collaborators on these music videos are all geniuses!

This. Is a great video.

Outstanding song and video Johns!!! Keep up the awesome music!!! You made my day again!!!

Please perform in NJ, so I can see you guys sing again!!! 😃

If I were gonna make a 2015 TMBG DaS album, so far it would contain "Erase," "Madam, I Challenge You To a Duel," "Answer," and this one.

@Gameboo Agreed - although my favorite keeps changing, Music Jail is definitely top three for me. I keep trying to rank them and it proves to be difficult.

I'd put Let Me Tell You About My Operation on there too

@Deuce Loosely I just burned my 'First Quarter tMBg mix' today, it opened with 'I wasn't listening' (just to warm the earholes up) and while i had to debate a little between 'Erase' and this track, I did settle on 'Unpronounceable'...its going to be fun to mix all the tracks up through each quarter, and when the end of year time comes, its going to be a fantastic showdown for the final mixes... =)

@Deuce Loosely I think that's already happening. They're releasing an album called Glean in April. And I think the tracklisting is basically everything we've heard so far, give or take a few songs.

@Deuce Loosely They're all on it! Such a good release. Ten points to Deuce Loosely for making an S&O reference on a TMBG page, my two favorite things.

I think all I can say is "well done". Probably the two best songs of DaS-15 so far in the last two weeks. Keep up the good work!

The video was so weird and awesome, and the song was equally awesome from start to end. You guys just keep outdoing yourselves with these weekly songs, it's really amazing to watch.

wow. hand well inside puppet head.
somehow surpassing they-selves each week.
Beyond 1965 craftsmanship. You can't make this stuff up.

This song is just sounds wrong... and that's what makes it great!

Exactly!

Not sure how, but this is both the most "They Might Be Giants" sounding song of Dial-a-Song so far, and at the same time, it doesn't sound like any other They Might Be Giants songs I've heard before.

thats exactly why it sounds like They Might Be Giants

@Nutmegg Agreed. One of the main reasons I enjoy their music is because, due to them mixing and matching so many genres, their songs always feel 'new'.

I can't find the Dial-a-Song version anywhere.

@John Brown This is the version that was played on Dial-a-Song.

@Scarlet Swordfish Ooohhhh. Thanks.

That section where the song cuts out made me feel like I was dying. Good job.

I honestly love that feeling of pure error.

i really thought my internet is slow when i was doing my work lol

Up-thumb for horse mask.

Holy crap. This is hands down the best so far. Great work with the video! I loved the bit where the sound was all sort of bugging out.

Love the Kaufman-esque moment...perfect for the internet :)

If this, Music Jail, and Erase are all on Glean, I am going to immediately buy this album.
Friggin love the part where it glitches out. Best part.

I believe Glean will be mostly Dial-a-Song, so the odds of them being on are quite high

@Morgan Brown They are all on it, along with the surprisingly touching and funny 'Answer.' I've been listening to this album on repeat for days care of an unscrupulous local merchant.

Music Jail, Erase and Unpronounceable are my favorites too

Me too, Morgan Brown

Awesome!!

The glitching sound is a bit hard to listen to (at least at this hour), but regardless is an interesting idea. With headphones it gives this feeling as if you yourself are "glitching" which is pretty cool.

Chahol17 I glitch all the time

I wish the really hardcore glitchting part around 2:11 had longer breaks. The moments are small enough it's not quite big enough of an impact. It feels like i've been trapped or cut off, but still large enough it's annoying. It's still a powerful experience, but they didn't take it far enough.